AOL, Frontier to Refund Users $200,000

Updated Dec. 30, 2002 5:30 p.m. ET

AOL Time Warner Inc. and a unit of Citizens Communications Co., Stamford, Conn., will provide $200,000 in refunds and credits to more than 400 America Online customers hit with high charges for Internet usage during an area-code switchover last winter, state regulators said Monday. AOL and Frontier Telephone Co., a Rochester, N.Y.-based telephone company, each agreed to set aside $100,000 to compensate customers who got unexpectedly high long-distance phone bills -- some over $1,000 -- for an online dial-up service they used while they thought they were connected to a local access number. At the time, western New...